When We Were Us - J. S. Cooper
Blurb
He says I owe him a debt. And he’s come to collect what he’s owed.
When you’re young, anything is possible.
Love is pure magic, and time seems to stand still.
I remember those days like I remember seeing my first rainbow.
When the sky was bleak, he painted it full of color.
We came from different worlds.
We had no business ever interacting.
He was the wolf with glowing eyes and a cocky grin.
I was the innocent sheep that he wanted to eat up.
I knew he was trouble, but then he went and saved my life.
I was in the wrong place at the right time.
Or so I thought.
I didn’t realize that he was the leader of the pack.
He saved me from himself.
Only, young love never lasts. Sometimes you grow up and move on.
That’s what I did.
But now he’s back. Meaner. Stronger. Full of darkness instead of light.
This time he’s not here to save me. This time he’s here to make me pay.
Prologue
Let me tell you a story. It’s about a man with jet black hair and dazzling emerald green eyes and a woman with long brown hair and eyes that looked like the moon. At least that’s what the boy said. On nights when the sky was dark, he would call her his moon-eyed girl. They were young when they met and young when they parted. During nights when the cold wind seeped into their bones, they held each other close; their hearts beating as one. And on days when the sun was bright, they floated through the sky on fluffy clouds with beautiful smiles that never left their faces. This boy and this girl, they were always together. She believed they were meant to be. That their meeting had been destined in the stars. But then one night the sky was dark and ominous, and there were no stars in the sky. And the moon-eyed girl realized that it wasn’t a prince charming that had found her, but a devious devil.
Sometimes the prince in your story isn’t the good guy.
I can still remember the villain that tried to claim me as his.
His name was Luca. It suited him. My dark, handsome savior.
It feels like just yesterday we were sitting in a bar, he was buying me a drink. I thought I was falling in love. It’s funny how attraction can make you ignore the signs.
He was tall, attractive, the sort of man that made you go weak in the knees. The way he looked at me, the way he kissed me, I thought it was meant to be. I thought we were forever.
But then I noticed the men watching us and the way Luca seemed to change before my eyes. My warm savior was cold, was dangerous, was calculating in ways that I would never have believed possible.
I started to do some research and it made me scared. Luca was darker than I thought. We argued and he said it was all in my head. I believed him. I gave in to him. I submitted to him.
And then I saw him with my own two eyes. He wasn’t a good guy. He was the bad guy. I fled as fast as I could, my heart breaking as I ran. And he let me go.
But now he’s back and he wants to make me pay for leaving him. He says he still loves me, but I think what he really wants is to exact his revenge and I don’t know what to do.
Sometimes, the end is just the beginning. Some love stories bring you light, but some love stories shroud you in darkness. Some love stories should never be told. Their love story has only just begun.
EIGHT YEARS AGO
Chapter 1
Luca
She was walking down Garfield Place in Park Slope when I saw her, holding a book in one hand and two plastic bags in the other. Her head was bent and her long light brown hair hung down her back, cascading like waves as the wind brushed past her. I knew that she was going to fall about a minute before she actually did. I watched as she tripped on a large piece of rock and came flying toward me. Her body hit me hard before she fell to the ground, her bags falling with her, but the book remained in her hand. I walked over to her slowly, as she sat there dazed and confused, her legs sprawled out on the dirty concrete.
“You should watch where you’re going,” I said, suddenly taken aback by the brightness of